• We need balanced KIUC effort • Council caves to special interests • Hooray for the bridge We need balanced KIUC effort The biggest mistake we could make is to elect the two sustainability candidates now trying to get on
• We need balanced KIUC effort
• Council caves to special interests
• Hooray for the bridge
We need balanced KIUC effort
The biggest mistake we could make is to elect the two sustainability candidates now trying to get on the KIUC board. They are driven completely by the goal of total sustainability as opposed to a balanced effort … balanced by cost to the consumer and, as in the case of wind power, to the visual environment of Kaua‘i.
Have you ever been to Northern California and seen all the ugly wind turbines covering the landscape? How would that look on our small island? Here we are trying desperately to preserve the beauty of Kaua‘i, and then these “sustainabilists” come along and want to impose this blight on our gorgeous open landscapes. There goes our rural character. There goes our island’s beauty on which our essential tourist industry, as well as our own well-being depends. We might just as well build houses all over and cure the demand for housing and the affordable housing crisis at the same time.
Do you believe that wind and solar energy, while sounding nice in theory, will ever be cheaper than or as reliable as hydropower or burning renewable plant materials? No way … not in this lifetime. Wind turbines are constantly breaking down. I guess we’ll have to keep our ‘Iniki generators ready so that when there’s no wind, we can still cook a meal. If solar energy generation is the answer, we’d have it already like we do with our solar water heaters. Cost is more of a factor with solar energy. If it weren’t, we’d have it already. And guess who gets to pay for these high-cost solar panels that would litter our landscapes? You, the power consumer of course.
The “sustainabilists” would force this on us now and make Kaua‘i even more unaffordable. Their only answer to this is to try and buy votes by saying that they’ll give some folks a lower rate than others. That’s not the answer when reducing and minimizing our electricity costs is well within our own personal means if we take the obvious and simple steps we need to accomplish it.
The information is free and available now from KIUC. Anyone who doesn’t take these steps, doesn’t deserve to have someone else picking up a portion of their electrical bill no matter how economically disadvantaged they are.
So, if we elect either, or both, of the two “sustainabilists” running for the board and they get their way, we’ll all be paying even higher rates and our beloved agricultural lands and mountain views will be blighted by wind turbines, ala California. I say re-elect the existing board which will continue to take a considered and balanced approach to cost versus green.
There’s no magic in power generation or economics and for two of the new board candidates to indicate that they can do a better job than the current board is at best wishful thinking.
Jason Manawai
Kekaha
Council caves to special interests
Last week our County Council voted 4-3 against implementing Mayor Bryan Baptiste’s moratorium on developing Kaua‘i’s precious agricultural lands until better planning for our island home can be implemented.
How could that happen?
For the past five years members of the council have pointed the finger at the Planning Commission as the failed institution responsible for the deplorable and uncontrolled growth we’re experiencing. They were wrong.
Many have strong opinions about Baptiste but some things are apparent: he loves our island; would like to see it preserved; and is striving to provide its long term local residents with help in their efforts to maintain the island of their youth.
The County Council, not the Planning Commission, seems to have a different agenda. Why is it the council can’t get along with the mayor and adjust their self interests to work together and better serve the people of Kaua‘i?
We should all thank councilmembers JoAnn Yukimura, Tim Bynum and Kaipo Asing for their wisdom and efforts to help our island by trying to preserve the moratorium. On the other hand, how can Jay Furfaro, Ron Kouchi, Mel Rapozo and Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho be proud of their blatant cave to special interests and money?
Why?
I can understand Furfaro and Kouchi as past employees of major land holders and developers of our island voting to kill the moratorium. Who wants to hurt the hand that feeds them?
It’s especially upsetting, however, to watch Repozo and Carvalho in action; two councilmembers that many of us looked up to and voted for because of their expressed campaign agenda for Kaua‘i. Do they have motivation we don’t know about? Does it make any sense? And please don’t give us the “We might get sued,” or “Need additional info” excuses.
First they object to a few picnic areas with roofs at Kealia Beach and fight to the finish at great cost to the taxpayer to have them removed in the guise of protecting our ‘aina, then they turn around and leave our prized agricultural land open to aggressive developers. Developers who make fortunes carving up Kaua‘i for “gentleman farmers” coming from the Mainland to capture their piece of paradise at the expense of our local farmers and residents. All of this in an environment screaming for the need to preserve our lands for real agriculture, and which may be the key to our very survival as the economy may dictate sometime in the future.
Everyone who cares about preserving Kaua‘i should be upset, angry and take action against the members of this council who have betrayed their trust. The damage done by the Superferry will be nothing in comparison to the damage to our island by a continuing uncontrolled development of our agricultural lands. The outcry over this action should be twice as emboldened as that for a boat. But then you can’t surf where the land is, only live.
Gordon Oswald
Kapa‘a
Hooray for the bridge
What a great sight … the new pedestrian bridge spanning the canal between Waipouli Town Center and Kauai Village.
I want to thank the County Council (present and prior) for their votes of support. I want to especially recognize councilmembers Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho and Mel Rapozo, who advocated for enforcement of this decades-old zoning condition.
I also want to thank Tony Allen, Faye Azeka Neves, Rendy Rosario (my mom), Kanani Bushnell, Laurel Brier and Juday Leong for their help in collecting signatures. Thanks to the hundreds of residents who signed the petitions in favor of this bridge and the many people who over the years offered words of encouragement. Also, Andy Parks and Glenn Mickens, other bridge advocates, kept me informed of the many necessary council and Planning Commission meetings.
Now, let’s put this bridge to good use — get a little exercise and forego driving between these shopping centers.
Tracy Murakami
Kapa‘a
